The Sixties

Cold War, Vietnam, Hippies, and Beatlemania

U-2 IncidentMay 1960: U-2 spy plane piloted by

Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory

Huge embarrassment for Eisenhower Administration – lead to heightened tensions

Cuba

1960: Castro nationalized approximately $1 Billion in properties owned by US

companies and civilians

Eisenhower responded by imposing a trade embargo

Cuba

The CIA began to secretly train Cuba exiles for an invasion of Cuba

JFK

1960: John F. Kennedy was elected US president

JFK

Kennedy had ran against Richard M. Nixon, who had been Eisenhower’s Vice-President

They held the first televised Presidential debate. Citizens that watched on TV said that Kennedy won and citizens that listened on the radio said that Nixon won.

Bay of PigsKennedy approved the plans for the

invasion of Cuba in 1961

Approximately 1500 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs

Bay of PigsThough the exiles were promised air

support, it never came and Castro’s forces were waiting for them on the shore

The invasion was a complete failure and embarrassment for the Kennedy Administration

Kennedy and Khrushchev

June, 1961 Kennedy and Khrushchev met, but could not come to an agreement over any main issues and concerns. Kennedy’s last words to Khrushchev were that it would be a cold winter.

Berlin WallAug 13, 1961: In order to stop the flow of

East Germans flooding to the west, the communists erected a wall overnight.

The Berlin wall would become a symbol of the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis1962 US spy planes discovered nuclear

missiles in Cuba.  Kennedy announced the threat to the nation

and called for a naval blockade around Cuba.

Cuban Missile CrisisKennedy also declared that a Cuban attack

on any nation in the western hemisphere would be considered a USSR attack on the US.

Range of Missiles

Cuban Missile CrisisKhrushchev agreed to remove missiles

In return, the US agreed not to attack Cuba and to remove older missiles from Turkey

Cuban Missile CrisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest

the world ever came to nuclear war.

Vietnam War

• Since 1893, France had control of all of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. This territory was known as French Indochina

 • 1930: Moscow trained revolutionary Ho

Chi Minh established the ICP (Indochinese Communist Party)

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam Much of the French influence in Indochina was

ceded to the Japanese during WWII.

During this time Ho Chi Minh organized the Viet Minh, which emphasized nationalistic aims, not strictly communist goals

During WWII, Viet Minh actually collaborated with US forces in order to defeat the Japanese and Ho Chi Minh was made a special OSS agent

 

VietnamAfter Japan’s surrender, the Viet Minh

declared northern Vietnam an independent republic known was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)

The French, however, wanted to remain in control of Vietnam and quickly sent troops throughout southern Vietnam

Vietnam

An agreement was reached for France to have troops in Northern Vietnam in return for recognizing the DRV as a free state within a French federation.

VietnamIn 1946, war broke out between the French

and Viet Minh

The attack was the result of failed negotiations.

This became known as the First Indochina War

Vietnam

Despite requests from Ho Chi Minh for the United States to recognize Vietnamese independence, the US supported and aided the French military

VietnamThe war was fought from 1946 until 1954. In 1954, there was a call for peace

negotiations.

The Viet Minh believed they needed a decisive victory in order to strengthen their position.

Vietnam

In March, they attacked the French outpost at Dien Bien Phu.

On May 7, Dien Bien Phu fell – one day before the talks began.

Vietnam

The loss caused the French to negotiate peace agreements. The war ended in July, 1954.

 The agreement, known as the Geneva

Accords, temporarily divided Vietnam into two separate cease-fire zones.

Vietnam

1959: North Vietnamese adopt a policy of revolutionary war in order to reunite the country

1960: National Liberation Front (NLF) organized in South Vietnam in order to overthrow South Vietnamese government

Kennedy

Despite much urging among advisors, Kennedy refused to send US troops into battle

Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Johnson was Kennedy’s Vice-President

He was sworn into the presidency on November 22, 1963, a mere 2 hours after Kennedy’s assassination

Lyndon B. Johnson

Vietnam1964 – Johnson approved top-secret, covert

operations against North Vietnamese territory

Johnson also ordered the navy to conduct surveillance missions and increased the secret bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos

Vietnam

August 1964: US ships penetrated North Vietnamese territory in the Gulf of Tonkin and were fired at by north Vietnam

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is passed which handed over war making powers to Johnson

Vietnam

1965: United States escalates war by sending in troops – 80,000 in 1965 and 543,000 by the end of the decade

During this period, casualties on both sides were mounting and a strong anti-war movement developed in the US

Tet Offensive

1968: In order to crush the south and strengthen the anti-war movement, the north launched a simultaneous attack on almost every major South Vietnamese city.

The attack was known as the Tet Offensive

Tet Offensive

Tet is the festival of the Vietnamese lunar new year

It took South Vietnamese and US troops by surprise because of a holiday truce

Tet Offensive

The Tet Offensive resulted in very heavy casualties for the North and ultimately failed.

However, do to media coverage and US losses, the call for the US to leave strengthened.

Tet Offensive

After the Tet Offensive, US General William Westmoreland was replaced by General Abrams. Westmoreland had never lost a battle.

President Johnson decided not to seek re-election

Richard M. NixonNovember 1968, Richard Nixon elected US

President

Space Race: Man in Space1957/1958: Sputnik 2 launches first animal

(dog) in space, Laika.

1959: US sends two monkeys into space

April 1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin - first man in space and first to orbit earth

Space Race: Man in SpaceMay 1961: Alan Shepard – first American

in space

1962: John Glenn – first American to orbit earth

1963: USSR - first country to send a woman into space

Space Race: Man in Space

1965: USSR first space walk

January 1967: 3 Astronauts die when Apollo 1 catches fire during a rehearsal

1967: Vladimir Komarov is killed as his spacecraft, Soyuz 1, crashes to Earth

Space Race: Man in Space

1968: US - first manned orbit of the moon

July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin - first men to walk on the moon.

The US had won the Space Race

Domestic Affairs

Kennedy’s social, economic, and educational policies were known as the New Frontier